Tobias Locker, Ph.D.
Department of Visual and Performing Arts
Art History
Education
Ph.D. in Art History, Technische Universität Berlin.
Dissertation: Möbel für den König: Die Arbeiten Johann Melchior Kamblys für den Hof
Friedrichs II von Preussen [Furniture for the King: The works of Johann Melchior Kambly,
created for the court of Frederick II of Prussia]. Director: Dr. Bénédicte Savoy (TU
Berlin).
Practice Areas
- Decorative Arts, Design (Early modern - contemporary period)
- Cultural transfer and transnational art history (Early modern and modern period)
- Decolonial studies and Ecological Turn (Early modern period)
Publications and Media Placements
'The salottino di porcellana in the European context', in: Napoli, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in un contestor mondiale. Atti, Naples, arte'm (in print).
'Charles III et les cabinets de porcelaine de Portici, Aranjuez et Madrid: Transferts technologiques et artistiques dans le contexte méditerranéen', in: e-Spania , nº 41, Feb. 2022, .
'El Neo-Rococó en la creación de la(s) Nación(es)', in: BoletÃn de Arte, no 19/2019, Fundaciónes y refundaciónes de la nación, .
'El anhelo de Citera en el ocaso del Antiguo Régimen: la naturaleza en el arte del Rococó', in: Daniel López del Rincón (ed.), Arte y Naturaleza. Del Bosco al bioarte, Vitoria-Gasteiz & Buenos Aires, Sans Soleil Ediciones, 2017, pp. 153-176.
'Vigée Le Brun. Woman Artist in Revolutionary France', in: Acta / Artis. Estudis d'Art Modern, no 4-5, 2016-2017, pp. 118-123.
'The Frederician Rococo at the service of the German Empire: The decorative arts at the 1900 Paris World's Fair', in: Acta / Artis. Estudis d'Art Modern, no 4-5, 2016-2017, pp. 89-97.
'Conference report: Cold Atlantic. Cultural War, Dissident Artistic Practices, Networks and Contact Zones at the Time of the Iron Curtain' (conference organized by the Museo Reina SofÃa, ¶¶Òõpro, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) Sept. 5-7, 2016, Museo Reina SofÃa, Madrid, (accessed July 17, 2022).
'Baroque in the Construction of a National Culture in Francoist Spain. An Introduction', in: Paula Barreiro-López, Carey Casten, Tobias Locker (eds.):, Bulletin of Spanish Studies XVI (special issue: The 'Baroque' in the Construction of a National Culture in Francoist Spain), vol. 5, 2014, pp. 657-671.
'A Prussian manufactory of gilt bronzes à la française: Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84) and the adoption of Parisian savoir-faire', in: David Bourgarit, Jane Basset, Francesca G. Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres (eds), French Bronzes, London, Archetype, 2014, pp. 166-177.
'On Site: The International Museum of the Reformation in Geneva', blog: Enfilade [enfilade18thc.com], published June 9, 2014, URL: (accessed Jan. 10, 2023).
'Die Bildergalerie von Sanssouci', in: Benedicte Savoy (ed.), Tempel der Kunst: Die Entstehung des öffentlichen Museums in Deutschland 1701-1815, Mainz, Zabern, 2006, pp. 217-242, 462-465 [2nd edition of the book: Cologne, Böhlau, 2016].
Honors and Awards
March - April 2018
Visiting scholar at the Instituto de Historia del Arte Argentino y Americano (IHAAA), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina.
May - July 2017
Visiting scholar at the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris; research project: Johann Melchior Kambly. Decorator, sculptor, cabinetmaker, bronze worker and artistic entrepreneur for the court of Frederick II of Prussia.
May 2016
Visiting scholar at the Bard Graduate Center, New York City.
July - Sept. 2006
Visiting scholar at the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris; research project: Die Paris-Reisetagebücher Friedrich Karl von Hardenbergs.
April 2007 - May 2010
Doctoral award of the Studienwerk Villigst.
Nov. 1999 - Oct. 2002
Pre-doctoral award of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.